The invention relates to an electric toaster comprising a first heating element and a second heating element, the first and second heating elements being electrically connected in series for receiving an alternating supply voltage, the first heating element being divided into two sub-elements, the sub-elements being interconnected in a first node and switching means for activating and deactivating one of said two subelements.
Such an electric toaster is known from Australian Patent Specification No. 573097, which discloses a toaster which can be switched from a configuration for normal two-sided toasting of slices of bread to a configuration for asymmetric single-sided toasting of pieces of baguette, loaves cut lengthwise, crumpets, muffins or the like. The known electric toaster comprises first and second main heating elements arranged in series arranged at opposite sides of a toasting compartment. A third auxiliary heating element is arranged in series with the first main heating element and physically located on the same support as the first heating element. By means of an electric switch in parallel with the third heating element the third heating element can be switched on and off. In the asymmetric heating mode, when the electric switch is open, the third heating element is operative. Due to the increased resistance of the combined first and third heating elements, more radiant power is generated by this combined heating element than by the second element and one face of the slice of bread is toasted more intensely than the other face. In the normal or symmetric heating mode, when the electric switch is closed, the third heating element is short-circuited and equal radiant power is generated at both sides of the slice of bread. The first and third heating elements have interspersed windings of heating wire upon the same support. The minimum distance between the adjacent turns of the windings has to fulfil certain requirements. This means that the distance between the turns of the winding of the first heating element has to be twice the minimum distance in order to give room for the interspersed turns of the winding of the third heating element. The density of turns of the first heating element thus is lower than possible. The same holds for the second heating element if this element is made of the same heating wire material as the first heating element. As a consequence of the rather coarse winding pattern of the first and second heating elements the irradiation of the slice of bread in the normal mode is not as good as compared with conventional toasters without such asymmetric mode.